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She hands the child over, and when she looks back at me, there is bloodlust in her eyes that I feel in my very soul.
Our queen is angry, very angry, and she wants revenge.
By the time we clear the cirque, we find three of their men alive, all with various injuries. We tie them up in the big top and stand before them, our masks in place. Blood covers most of us from chasing and killing their people, and we let them see it so they will understand that they won’t be making it out of here alive.
Heart chuckles as he leaps up onto one of the rigging poles and dances across it, a knife in hand as he begins to sing. “Duck, duck, goose!” He points at one who recoils as far as the bindings will allow him. “Won’t you come to roost? I want to play, play with you today!” He leaps at them, and they shout in fear. “Boo.” He chuckles as he skips backwards, sliding around Ember. “I wish I saw you kill them. What a sight.”
“Heart,” she warns and points at her feet. “Sit. You can play with them when we’re done.”
“Promise?” he asks, sulking.
“I promise.” She pats his head, and he sinks to his knees at her side like a dog. It seems our queen has tamed our beast, or at least made it so he only answers to her. She strokes his hair as he continues to play with the knife, drawing in the sand as I step forward.
I cross my arms, eyeing the three men as Spade stands to one side, Club on the other.
“Speak or I will let Queen and Heart play with you. Trust me, you don’t want that. Both are feeling very emotional right now,” I warn. They aren’t the only ones either. Club snarls, smashing his fist into one’s face as he wiggles, trying to get away. Spade kicks another with a barked order to speak. We’re all angry and on edge.
“You’re surrounded and alone,” I tell them, my voice low and deadly. “You’re in the cirque now. No one can save you, and you’ll beg for death before we’re through with you. Speak. Last warning.”
The one in the middle glances at Ember. I don’t know what he sees in her face, but his eyes widen and dart back to me. “We hate you,” he spits. Despite his fear, his hatred wins out. “You can kill us. That won’t change anything.”
“Oh, we aren’t going to kill you. Not at first,” Ember taunts. “First, we’ll play with you.”
He glances at her again, his nostrils flaring in disgust, but his fear is strong. Ultimately, that wins out. “Some guy?—”
His friend elbows him. “Shut up,” he hisses.
I pluck a knife from my side and throw it. I might not be as good as Club, but I can keep up. It embeds right in his chest. He gurgles and gasps, looking down in horror as he begins to die. “It’s rude to interrupt someone when they are speaking,” I warn as I glance back at the man in the middle. Both him and his friend struggle in earnest now. “Carry on.”
Ember skips forward and crouches before him, pressing an axe to his chin. “He means now, otherwise . . .” She drags it down, slightly cutting his throat, and he recoils, trying to escape her.
“I don’t know, okay? Some guy who was passing through was speaking to us about you guys. He told us where to find you and how easy it would be to stop you since the police won’t care what happens to you. You’re not like us. You’re freaks. It seemed like a good idea!” He jerks again. “Get her the fuck away from me!”
Ember sits back, tilting her head. “What man?”
“I don’t know, a stranger,” he hisses, and then he spits at her despite his fear.
We freeze. She slowly lifts her hand and drags it down her mask where he spit. “You’ll regret that,” she warns, gripping the axe and jerking it back. His agonized scream rents the air as she drives it down into his leg with all her strength and keeps chopping, hacking it off from his knee. His friend screams, fighting to get away as blood splatters him. I watch, considering his words, while Heart claps happily and cheers at my side. None of us make a move to stop her as she turns her eyes to his other leg and starts to chop.
“He’s right,” I remark over his screams. “The police don’t care. We’re outsiders, freaks. They won’t lift a finger to help us. We either need to kill them or punish them somehow. Either way, we’re on our own.”
“They came here, to the cirque,” Heart reminds me. “They came to the place with no rules, no laws, and walked in of their own accord.” His grin is vicious. “I say we give them what they want—freaks.”
Ember, now panting and covered in blood, glances back at me. “They will die. They came here for death, so they’ll get it.” Grabbing the man’s jaw, she forces his mouth open as he wakes from pain-induced unconsciousness. He begins to struggle again, despite his severe blood loss. “Don’t move or this will go wrong.”
He stills, eyes wide as she grabs his tongue. He panics, grunting in fear as she pinches it between her fingers.
She grins and slices it off with her axe before tossing it at his friend. “Spit at me now, you bastard.”
His scream is a unique sound without his tongue, and then he passes out again, slumping to the floor. She stands and steps back, bloody axe in hand. His blood pools in the sand, and I know it won’t be long until he’s dead.
“She’s right. Kill him.” I nod at the other one. “Then we’ll burn all the bodies. We’ll get rid of every trace we were ever here. It’s time to move on.”
Turning away, I head out to give the order. The man’s bellows fill the air behind me as my family descends on him and takes out their anger for the deaths and destruction they caused.
I can’t help but smile. It’s like a symphony to my darkness.
Chapter
